Not only is the virus no longer disrupting life up here, but the weather is back to it's usual activities.

Rain with thunderstorms on 5 of the last 7 days, delivering 125mm of lovely spring life giving water for the week. Although I have seen it many times I am always a little surprised at how quickly everything turns from brown to green with the start of the spring rains.

Much as I welcome the rain you have to feel for the dogs. My ridge back is so distressed by the thunder I'm wonder if he will have a heart attack. Meanwhile my sons pit bull is of a different nature. He wants to bite the horrible sky each time there's a clap of thunder.

Meanwhile the 150 meters of Cadagee gum wind break west & south of the house has turned snow white with flowers, the silky oaks are towers of orange/gold, & 80 hibiscus are competing with them for attention. They have been invaded with what seems like thousands of rainbow lorikeets, accompanied by hundreds of other nectar eaters.

I'm going to be spending a lot of time on the tractor & ride on mower in the next few months, but with all this explosion of life, you wouldn't be dead for quids.

Hasbeen,

I hope the good weather is some compensation for the bad election result.

"Good weather, bad election result", wrong on both counts. Folks out Ipswich way were hit by hail stones the size of cricket balls yesterday, smashing roofs, destroying cars and houses.

On politics, when are you old blokes going to move out of that 1950's yesteryear conservative tripe you wallow in, and realise Queen Victoria ain't coming back. ttbn fell for the three card trick with Corny Banana and his Conservative party, and got ripped off. It was never going to fly! If you like conservatism so much, you should go and join that Pommy joke, Bug Ridden Boris, and his Conservative party. For young Australian's, that's anyone under 80, counts you blokes out, they look to progressives to provide political leadership, and they find it in both major political parties. So fellas it time to suck it in, and join the majority.

Queensland has always had hail the size of cricket balls, & bigger. In 1972 a mate & another hundred or so home owners in Redcliffe had to re-roof their homes when really big hail flattened their corrugated iron roofs, pulling a lot of the nails out.

In 1991 I had $4750, [in 1990 dollars] damage done to my company Camry, & a neighbor had a pony killed by similar hail.

Yep Anna sure picked the right side of the coronavirus debate to win all the dummies. About the only smart thing she has ever done. Got to say the other one, what ever her name is, must be the original invisible lady

I suppose that voters could think that there is so little difference between Labor and LNP that they might as well stick with the devil they know.

Paul 1405 needs to try posting when he is sober.

My Meteorology teacher told me many years ago he was flying a C-130 over the Tablelands when a 6 inch lump of hail penetrated the fuselage & landed on the floor inside.

You can always tell how stoned a poster is from how much of a word salad is their post.

Shonkyminister, what happened in Queensland, did you see the LNP flying goose crash and burn! Dangerous Deb got flushed away this morning. Another LNP no-hoper bites the dust! Good to see the Greens win another seat and prove competitive in two others, its only a matter of time.

ttbn, should post when he's plastered, he'd make more sense that way!

Vote buying-bad investment !

Indy, I shouldn't have a go at you sometimes. The 'Bradfield Project' if feasible, is actually a very good idea. What the LNP should have done is say "We'll commit $X to a feasibility study, to be completed by X date". Its those kinds of sustainable projects that have merit. The training of young people, not picking fruit, that's dead end, stop gap stuff, but with decent infrastructure projects young people can be give a real start in life, through a decent career oppertunity.

The 'Bradfield Project' if feasible

Paul1405,
I have been for such a scheme forever & I think I've made it abundantly clear that such a project should not & can not have a finish date. That's why i have stated that all they (ALP or LNP) need to do is start ! The economic snowballing comes automatically.
What the LNP so foolishly put out there is a massive scheme for $15 billion & made it sound like that's what would be needed to kick it off. Start with a couple of small dams here &there, a few weirs, some wind/solar pumps & a few water tunnels & "Presto" you have infra structure that can make money from Day 1. At the same time as the irrigation work starts they could put in tourist roads & facilities & perhaps even a railway & while the machinery is there put in a few dirt runways for tourist & emergency flights ! Non-military national Service crews could clear the bushland for look-outs etc. Imagine balloon flights following the system over the great Dividing Range ? 4WD tracks, swimming holes etc etc. The potential is huge !

Hi Paul,

Pity the Greens dropped their vote. Clearly, they are doomed to represent an affluent, inner-city, entitled demographic.

It's very likely they will win Cooper and McConnel in future elections, on LNP preferences of course, their social-class-mates, while their total State vote slides down towards 8 % and 7 %.

Joe

Heard some Green dude on ABC Radio this arvo rambling on about 'studies should be done first to see if any more dams are needed in Qld'.
I couldn't believe my ears that even in this day & age there are still such morons out there who refuse to look at anything past their own hypocritical agenda.
We need flood absorbing canals & lakes & reservoirs especially around Brisbane & other flood-prone residential area. Much of that water could be redirected towards inland & filtered naturally on the way. Recreational waterways could be created for canal boating like in Europe.
At the same time the groundwater would be replenished & more bushland would stay green thus reducing fire hazard.
Most of such development would be jumped at by entrepreneurs with foresight & patience.
Imagine the boost to wildlife ?
Just go & start digging !

Australian states are like several different countries using the one bank account - the federal government. It's time to get rid of them

"That's why i have stated that all they (ALP or LNP) need to do is start ! The economic snowballing comes automatically."

Yep, I completely agree with individuals line of thinking.
Don't worry about the cost or all the reasons why it can't or shouldn't be done.

Resign yourself to the fact that if we want real progress in this country its an issue that HAS to be done;
You don't worry about 'why it can't happen', That's shite talk.
You only concern yourself with what needs to be done to 'MAKE it happen'.
And one step at a time you strategically get the job done.
All you have to do is put one foot in front of the other.
- And eventually you'll arrive at your destination, even though it may take time.

Paul 1405 doesn't deny that he posts under the influence, and suggests that I do the same.

Hi Joe,

The Greens should employ you as their election analysts, you have such insight. Unless you're trying to win outright government, or there is a state upper house, the overall vote is of little consequence. The Green vote was down 0.9%, what factors could explain that. I see two reasons, firstly there was a swing to Labor of nearly 5%, never seen the Green vote increase when their is a swing to Labor of that magnitude. Secondly the Greens were unable to match the major parties at pre-polls and with postal votes, just didn't have the resources. If future elections are going to generate such a large amount of pre-polling the Greens will need to address a very significant problem.

What is more important to minor parties is how competitive they are in seats they have a realistic chance of winning. For the Greens this election that was four seats, they won two and were completive in the other two. Overall the Greens will be happy with their result.

As for who supports who, small "l" progressive Liberal voters are closer to Green principles that crusty old rusted old conservative Labor voters. In about 20% of elections I've preferenced the Liberal candidate over Labor, and have argued, without success at campaign meetings, in favour of preferencing the Liberal ahead of Labor.

Things in Australia have sunk pretty low, but it is highly unlikely that the electorate will ever give much credence to the extreme Greens or any other neo-Marxists intent on wrecking Western culture. The Green movement is merely a refuge for the loony left, to isolate themselves from the sanity and common sense that they lack, and to talk rubbish to each other. Their continuing pathetic share of the vote is a big NO to the ratbags. Australians clearly do not want either avowed Conservatism or as per Cory Bernadi, nor do they want Marxism as per the Greens.

ttbn, it appears they don't want ratbag fascists like One Nation. How do you explain it, at the last Federal election about 1.5 million people voted for the Greens, that's about one third of the Labor vote. I think you suffer from wishful thinking. In their strongest state Queensland, the Greens still out poll the Fascists, elsewhere the Greens out poll the fascists 4 to 1. You are so out of step, think you speak for the silent majority and all that crap, then you back the likes of the Australian Conservative Party which couldn't get enough votes to wipe Corny Bananas big A.

Sadly Paul1405 is right about the votes for Traditional Conservative parties. We need to look to the Greens and learn from them. We need to contact and work with like minded people. We need to create organisational capability and capacity. The Greens and the Communists may be contemptible but they are effective- they are able to get things done. There are people within the Greens that are able to give commands and have them executed efficiently. We all need to be effective leaders and followers for the benefit of the movement and ultimately the nation. Avoid conflict within the movement and deal with the real issues

At the last election, the Greens polled only 10% of the total vote for all candidates, and 14% of the combined Coalition/Labor (the only two parties capable of forming a government). The other non-Green chickenshite candidates polled 15% combined.

So no. I am not "suffering from wishful thinking". We have a firm two party system, with Coalition and Labor voters mostly social conservatives; they leave nut job ideology to the neo-Marxist Greens, some of whom are apparently unaware that 'fascism' applies just as much to extreme leftism as it does to the extreme right; and, the Greens are extreme left in spades!

"We have a firm two party system, with Coalition and Labor voters mostly social conservatives" Is it not strange that ttbn's "social conservatives" overwhelmingly supported gay marriage, the same people who support abortion reform, and according to surveys overwhelmingly support euthanasia. Not to mention support for minority rights and women's equality. The ttbn "social conservatives" are demanding action on climate change, aboriginal recognition and a host of other issues, and did you know the same "social conservatives" stay away from mainstream conservative religious institutions like the Catholic and Anglican churches.

ttbn, your claim might have been true only 20 years ago, but like Rip Van Winkle you need to wake up and realise Australia has changed, much of the world has changed, people have moved on. But like old sleepy head you woke up, marched off and joined the Corny Banana Conservative Party and got your fingers burned, like Corny you didn't realise the changes, and thought there were masses of "social conservatives" just itching to fall into line. How wrong you were!

You should plot a graph of the big two party support post WWII and look where its gone, from a high of 95% in 1951 support to 75% in 2019. Despite both major parties shaking off much of their conservatism over the years they have not been able to arrest the general decline in their supporter base. The major parties "rusted on" voters are far fewer than they have ever been. Between 1949 and 1990 only one 'independent' was elected to the house of reps, Sam Benson in the seat of Batman (Vic) 1966. No other independent was voted in until Ted Mack was elected to the seat of North Sydney (NSW) 1990. Since then a whole host of minor party and independents have been elected to federal parliament, despite the system being stacked against them.

cont

cont

BTW, pre WWII Australia had a hotchpotch of minority governments. From memory I think Australia only had two significantly majority governments in those years. The first parliament in 1901 was the Barton minority Protectionist government with 31 seats, the opposition the Free Traders with 28 seats, Labour scored about 15% of the vote and 14 seats, plus there were 2 independents. Labour was the Green Party of the day.

Well, big deal. It is a well known fact that a sizeable proportion of Coalition and Labor voters have differing views on certain matters not vital to the well being of the country and our general culture - UNLIKE THE GREENS AND OTHER SLAVES TO TOTALITARIANISM, WHO GO IN FOR GROUP THINK. That they think the same way about everything - being menacingly robotic, like Chinese Communists, is the reason they garner so little of the popular vote.

No. Australia and "much of the world" has not changed significantly. It is minority ratbags who are so noisily screeching about their own desire for change, and their own arrogance, that make them think that. Elections still show that the silent majority does not agree with them. Labor or Coalition, with all their faults, still hold to small 'c' conservatism and fundamental decency (a word not in ultra-Left's lexicon).

It's now 28 years since the Greens were spawned in Australia, and 90% of Australians continue to reject them. Most Australians remain socially conservative. What sort of chump thinks that people cannot be conservative and support some of the things that he mentions in his opening paragraph! Fill in your own descriptions.

Well back in 2016 when Trump was first elected I thought the left made themselves look like a bunch of deranged retards with the way the carried on.
Now in 2020, with the views and opinions I've seen coming out of sky channel and the right generally during COVID, I think that they have made themselves look like a bunch of deranged retards with the way they've carried on.

We used to think of Labor as the Left, which it was, without being totally loopy, still maintaining a social conservatism, and a sense of decency and national pride. Now, the left is made up of a bunch of ferals, having nothing in common with old Labor, which wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Wrecking, de-platforming, culture cancelling and stifling free speech is what the new left is about. And it's high time the majority said, 'Enough!'

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/2020/11/02/long-covid-sufferers-speak-of-debilitating-symptoms-and-long-term-complications/

"Coronavirus / Long Covid sufferers speak of debilitating symptoms and long-term complications

growing number of people suffering symptoms of the virus well beyond its official two week period, sometimes for months on end, encountering a huge range of health issues ranging from fatigue, breathlessness, muscle aches, memory loss and a persistent cough.

No longer positive with the virus they are referred to as having long Covid.

With symptoms not serious enough to warrant hospital admission but not well enough to resume work or even basic day-to-day activities, long Covid sufferers do not return to their pre-Covid level of health and wellbeing after six months and more than 90 per cent suffer ‘post exertional malaise’ in which mild bouts of mental or physical exertion can trigger symptoms of chronic fatigue.

Due to the nature of Covid-19 and the fact it is a relatively new branch of the coronavirus family of viruses that can range from the mild common cold to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), health care professionals have been unsure how to treat these individuals.

Many have turned to long Covid support groups on social media and online where they encountered a community offering advice and consolation for the barrage of health conditions they are experiencing."

I told you all at the beginning this was no normal virus.
I told you all it's probably not supposed to kill you any more than it's meant to make you sick, permanently.
A new permanent enemy for which to push new permanent norms.
A permanent sickness to which many people may never fully recover.
- And endless stream of money to the healthcare industry managing these sick people.
The whole thing was a plandemic, not a pandemic.

[Cont.]
That's why I was happy for cops to cross the line and beat people if that's what it took to stop the spread of this crap.
But now that it's winding down my position is this.

14 days.
14 consecutive days with NO community transmission nationwide, and you take down every single border checkpoint, you tear up every newly imposed law, get rid of the app based tracking and every other thing that has been imposed upon us because of this foreign based virus, and you let everything go back to normal.

My argument is this, if there is no community transmission, then there is no basis for any of the other stuff.
It should all be rescinded, every single part of it.

We get our nation back for ourselves, but we don't have to open up for foreigners, they can stay out for now.

I pose the question! Is ttbn FULL OF IT? Seems he has invented a new group in society, the Small "c" Social Conservatives, being a Big "C" himself.

I am not a "PROGRESSIVE" myself on many issues, but in fact a ttbn Small "c" Social Conservative. Take GAY MARRAGE for instance, I think it should be limited to people of the same sex, and men and women together should not be allowed to enter into a gay union, that because I am a Small "c" Social Conservative. On ABORTION, I am not 100% in favour of abortion, I think it should be limited to 50% of the population, say women only, that's because I am a Small "c" Social Conservative. As for EUTHANASIA, I think anyone who has been euthanized should have a free choice to back out afterwards if they want to, that's because I am a Small "c" Social Conservative.

ttbn, by saying "UNLIKE THE GREENS AND OTHER SLAVES TO TOTALITARIANISM, WHO GO IN FOR GROUP THINK." What are you, ignorant or stupide, or a combination of both. Obviously you have never been to a GREENS branch meeting, not that they would have you, where diverse issues are open for discussion, and often hotly debated between members, with people expressing totally opposite opinions. More like "group think" was what you got at a Corny Banana Conservative meeting, what Corny said went! All you old fart members were good for was, dishing out the dough, and and like useful idiots, keeping your mouths shut! As for saying GREENS are slaves to totalitarianism, as I said YOU ARE FULL OF IT!

Paul 1405 aka Mr. Ten Percent,

I don't think I'm "stupide" but, then, I'm not familiar with that word. Is it French? It looks French.

Why are you using upper case for words such as progressive, gay marriage and abortion? If you are trying to emulate me, you should know that I use upper case for emphasis simply because italics are not available. There is no point in emphasising progressive, gay marriage and abortion. Is English a second language for you? Or is your rambling simply due to introduced substances as I have suspected for some time?

If you really haven't heard of small 'c' conservatives, or small 'l' liberals and the like; if you think I invented such descriptions, you really need to get out among normal people instead of attending Green bubble meetings.

Fortunately I have never been in the position that I had so little to do that I would waste any hours attending any political party meeting, be they red, blue & particularly green.

Meanwhile I take it all back about Queensland being back to normal. Does anyone want about 10 thousand rainbow lorikeets? The noise of this lot squabbling for a perch in the cadgee gums every night as dusk descends is deafening. And to think I've been feeding a couple of dozen of them every day for years.

ttbn,

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, stupid! I didn't say anything about small "l" liberals, in Australia such people are identified as social progressives, but economic conservatives, about 2/3 of the Liberal Party and its supporters.

Hey Hasbeen,
"The noise of this lot squabbling for a perch in the cadgee gums every night as dusk descends is deafening. And to think I've been feeding a couple of dozen of them every day for years.

Well that's what happens when you invite a few mates over for a small gathering.
- Everyone turns up.

indeed